


Hidden Mask

by yamifizzy



Category: Shingeki no Kyojin | Attack on Titan
Genre: Alternate Universe - School, Angst, Best Friends, Childhood, Childhood Friends, Fluff, Fluff and Angst, M/M
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2016-01-03
Updated: 2016-01-08
Packaged: 2018-05-11 07:07:44
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 5
Words: 10,001
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/5617819
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/yamifizzy/pseuds/yamifizzy
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Levi and Eren have been best friends since childhood, therefore it comes with no surprise when the two develop feelings for each other. Although Levi hates those cliché love songs that talk about living happily ever after in love, he does believes Eren and him will have a love that lasts forever. </p><p>Levi never would've thought that the love song describing his relationship with Eren would be one full of deceit.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Five Year Olds Shouldn't Know This Much

**Author's Note:**

> I'd like to dedicate this to Lexi, for giving me inspiration again.
> 
> * BTS - I Need U *

Levi has never had a best friend, not that he wanted one, and he definitely wasn’t complaining that he didn’t have a best friend, nope, not at all.

He didn’t care that everyone around him was all giggles and smiles, talking with others around them. I mean, considering those who surrounded his presence were all five year olds, he definitely wasn’t complaining. He didn’t like the kids that made up his kindergarten class. They were all snotty and liked to cry and complain too much (which is exactly why Levi was _definitely_ not complaining). He didn’t want to be associated with the crybabies that he had to see every day ever since he turned five and was forced to go to school by his father.

The thing was that yes, he did realize he was five years old, and he was also in kindergarten with the rest of his classmates, but he was nothing like them. Levi didn’t cry about the smallest of things like accidently dropping his snack on the floor (his father taught him the five-second-rule duh!), he also didn’t cry when his father dropped him off in his classroom on the first day of the school year, I mean maybe he would’ve cried if he though too much about the fact that he had to spend eight hours of his day surrounded by brats, but no, he didn’t cry about that because the fact that he’d get to be away from his father for these 8 hours out ruled the fact that he was still going to be in the company of people he hated, but the hate for kids he had never spoken to wasn’t as extreme as the one he had for the man he lived with.

By now one can realize that Levi is nothing like a typical five-year-old and has the thinking capacity of someone about, maybe 10. Blame his premature maturity on his father, of course.

Of course there was his teacher, who had to burst every bubble Levi tried to make. Levi could sense just when Ms. Perry was trying too hard to involve him in whatever crappy thing the class was dong that day. In fact, Levi was starting to believe Ms. Perry said his name the most out of everyone in the class, he believe that fact so strongly that one day he decided to prove it and count for himself. The results didn’t surprise him as much. Well, maybe a little bit because there was one other name that almost beat his in being called the most. But for the sake of proving his hypothesis right, let’s just leave it at that and say that his name was definitely the one being called the most, and definitely is definitely Levi’s favorite word, because he is definitely always right.

Although he was right, in the span of one day Ms. Perry called his name out about four times per hour, and the kindergarten teacher still hadn’t taught the class multiplication but somehow Levi knew that if you multiplied eight times four it would equal thirty-two, so thirty-two times per day. Levi believed that not even his father called him that many times in the span of a week.

What bothered him the most was the other kid’s name that almost beat his came to a close second, about three and a half times per hour, equaling in something pretty close to thirty two (Levi quite didn’t know how to multiply halves, and he wasn’t even sure how he got a half answer while counting how many times the teacher called this other student’s name).

And that spiked his interest very much. Suddenly quiet, reserved Levi went from ignoring everyone and not looking anyone in the eyes, to studying this boy who caught the teacher’s attention for a completely different reason than he did. This other kid, five years old just like him, was the completely opposite of Levi. He was loud and obnoxious, he was bratty and snotty and liked to laugh too much with his mouth wide open and saliva sliding down his chin. Levi cringed every time he had to acknowledge that sight, but he never quite looked away.

The boy was a complete trouble maker, and Levi as definitely sure he just did it for attention.

Levi was definitely not jealous that the boy seemed to be friends with everyone in the class, and didn’t really care that all the girls wanted to be around him and giggled like crazy whenever the green eyed boy smiled at them with his missing front tooth. Not only did they giggle but they blushed, and Levi knew the implications of that by watching too much tv by his father’s side.

Still, Levi wasn’t jealous because he didn’t care about girls attention, he could care less (actually, he didn’t care at all), and he definitely wasn’t jealous that the boy seemed to love speaking with every snotty kid in the class, except for him (because he wasn't snotty, thank you very much). 

Nope, definitely didn’t care. So watching the boy with the brown messy mop of hair didn’t last longer than a week, since after closely studying him there was nothing special about the boy. Levi ultimately decided that his name was called a lot because he was a little brat that wanted attention, and Levi knew better than to take any interest in people who only did things for attention. So after that week, Levi went back to his old kept-to-himself self and stopped watching the pretty boy.

But what Levi failed to notice was that he watched the boy for too long, and said boy had taken interest in him for maybe similar but different reasons in the span of a week.

 

✿✿✿✿✿✿

 

Eren immediately noticed he was being watched, I mean, who wouldn’t when the most kept to himself kid in his class was constantly drilling holes into his existence. Eren wouldn’t call himself a fool, because he was no fool, and he can’t call himself something he isn’t, so it irked him a bit that the brooding kid that always sat in the corner farthest from the window had developed a hobby of watching his every move.

I mean, Eren should be glad about that, since he always had a small interest in the boy that never got interested in him when everyone else in the room always wanted to swarm his presence. But either way the kid creeped him out, and not a lot of things creeped Eren out, since he was only five years old and was only surrounded by things safe to him, everything approved by his over-protective parents whom never let him out of their sight, except when he had to start school of course.

He hates to admit it, but he was one of the kids that cried on the first day of school, and he’s only bringing this embarrassing subject up because it has to do with the creepy kid. That’s how he first noticed him, Eren had been dropped off at the classroom with both his parents by his side. He was waiting behind a tall man who was grabbing a small kid’s shoulder tightly, even Eren could see the force being exerted. The kid had black neat hair, and was wearing black clothes as well, but the clothes neither anything else could compare to the blackness of his hair.

But that’s not what caught Eren's attention while tears streamed down his face and sobs were threatening to escape, no. He was surprised at the calmness of the other boys face when he turned around to hug his father goodbye. (Eren only assumed it was his father, he still doesn’t know, I mean, how would he?)

After all the kids had entered the class and the teacher had announced that all the students were present, Eren dared to look around his soon to be friends (he hoped) and wasn’t surprised to notice that just like him most of the kids were crying, except for the black haired kid, who was just staring into space with an annoyed expression on his face. Eren couldn’t help but scoff at the sight and averted his eyes back to the teacher, promising himself he’d never become acquainted with someone as stuck up as that kid.                  

It wasn't until the day the creepy kid started watching him that Eren broke his promise. The whole point of mentioning the first day of school story is to show that the black haired/creepy kid was not someone Eren cared about, but either way, the boy had captured Eren’s attention from the start, even thought he had pushed that attention to the bottom of his chest, until he found steel eyes staring him down.

But as sudden as it started, just like that it left.

The steel eyes didn’t watch him anymore after a week, and he was surprised to realize that he missed the attention those cold eyes gave him. Eren realized his five-year-old little mind shouldn’t care about getting the attention of stuck up boys with hair as dark as the night gets when he’s tucked into bed and his mother tells him she must turn off the light so he could sleep peacefully (but the dark only makes him lose sleep, although he doesn’t tell her that).

He realizes he’s never felt as good getting the attention of all those girls who blushed too easily as he did when he received the attention of the creepy kid. And maybe he should stop calling him the ‘creepy kid’ because if Eren believed he was creepy then he wouldn’t be wanting his attention this bad.

And Eren’s not really sure what the hell he wants, again, he’s only just a kid, but his sister watches some shows she shouldn’t when their parents are at work and she never realizes Eren standing by the couch, too small to be seen by her eyes, watching along with her.

So the next day when Eren realizes the quiet boy won’t be watching him like he did last week, and he knows this because yesterday was Monday, and for some reason he was eagerly expecting the weekend to be over so he could go to school and he didn’t know why, (actually when his mom asked he realized the answer but he couldn’t tell her so he decided to believe the answer he gave her was the truth). Anyways, yes, yesterday was Monday and steel eyes no longer watched him, and he knew this because of the disappointed that washed over him when he noticed the boy was just staring into space like he usually did (not that Eren knew what the boy usually did, since he made a promise not to care, remember?).

For some reason this saddened Eren, but also made him mad. Was he not interesting enough?  

For the rest of the week, Eren watched quiet boy until all he saw before he closed his eyes in the darkness of his bedroom when his mom turned off the light was the boy’s pale face, black fringe covering his steel eyes, and it frightened Eren a bit to realize how much he had come to know about the boy in the span of a week, not as much as he’d like to know of course, but just the outside things. Like his expressions, and the look that passed through his eyes whenever Ms. Perry called his name, or the way he rolled his eyes whenever a kid started crying, or how he never laughed but sometimes a trace of a smile was seen on his lips, well, almost like an evil smile but to Eren it was still a smile, and he didn't know why for some reason he wanted to see the boy smile for real, and he wanted to hear him laugh too. Not only that, but he wanted to be the reason for bringing those emotions out of the boy.


	2. Kindergarteners With Stalking Habits

Levi wasn’t stupid, but he wanted to kick himself for committing such a stupid act. He fucking knew it, he fucking realized it before the snotty brat did. Sometimes Levi thanked the heavens there was a thing called a mind that let him say things inside his head instead of saying them out loud, because who knows what Ms. Perry would say if she heard him curse, oh no, he wouldn’t want her having a private meeting with his father to question why little Levi had such a filthy mouth. 

But yeah, he realized it right away when he entered the classroom that Monday. Just like he usually did, he put his lunch away in the cubicle with his name on it, along with his backpack, only taking out his beat up notebook and a pencil.

He had barely finished putting his stuff away when he noticed the weird feeling on his back, as if someone was drilling their eyes into him with such intensity that he would completely burst if they had some super vision powers.

Levi didn’t want to do it, he didn’t want to turn around to see from whom exactly he had gained such interest from, but for some reason there was a voice in his subconscious that told him he already knew who it was, which is why he realized he was very, very stupid.

He turned around either way, I mean, he had to walk to his seat eventually. So he tried to ignore those pair of green eyes as much as he could, which wasn’t easy, since they were super big, and super obvious.

The day went by like any other day, except of course, Levi had gained a stalker.

I mean, he shouldn’t be complaining, he did the exact same thing to the kid last week, but he’s pretty sure he was way more subtle, definitely sure. And that’s why he was stupid, because he knows very well if he hadn’t watched the kid like a hawk last week, he wouldn’t have started to be watched either.

But the past is the past, and he can’t change that, he only hopes green eyes loses interest in him faster than Levi lost interest in him. And that’s what majorly sucks. Levi’s plans of continuing his kindergarten year as if the snotty brat didn’t exist has gone to shit, because said brat won’t stop watching him.

Monday went by okay, Levi got through it so he didn’t think much about how his day had gone.

Then came Tuesday, same shit as the day before, and Wednesday, Thursday and finally Friday. Nothing could explain how happy Levi felt that the weekend had finally come again, for more than one reason. Firstly, he’d get a break from his stalker, and secondly he hoped by the time Monday came around, the kid had lost interest just like he had done. He was extremely disappointed when Monday came around, because the two reasons for his happiness became the two reasons for his misery.

 

✿ ✿ ✿ ✿ ✿ ✿

 

A week had passed and steel eyes hadn’t thrown a glance at him, but Eren was pretty sure the boy knew he was being watched. Eren knew he wasn’t being exactly subtle, at some point between last week he lost all desire to be subtle and wanted the other to notice him watching, and maybe do something about it. But disappointment was all Eren was greeted with because quiet boy didn’t do anything.

Eren was getting desperate, but again, he was only five years old (the need to stress his age is beyond him really, but he believes his age is the answer to everything). Eren didn’t know why he was desperate, but he knew that he no longer cared about getting girls attentions and making them laugh and blush. He no long made as many jokes as he did before, or laughed as loud as he used to before. He definitely tried to pay attention in class and did all he could so the teacher wouldn’t call his name out so often.

He wanted to grab the boy's attention, and he knew better that to get someone’s attention you do all the things he was trying to stop doing, because by now he had realized that none of those things worked with the boy, so he hoped that if he did the opposite (basically becoming more like steel eyes) then the boy would finally acknowledge him.

It took less than a week for Eren to become someone he didn’t know. He knows exactly how it happened, and he hated himself for it, well not really, since at the end of the day he got what he wanted, but that’s not the point of his misery. The point is, that Eren faced the ugly truth for once and for all, a truth he wasn’t looking for.

Since Eren had stopped being around his classmates as much, resolving to staying quiet, still surrounded but them but not participating in their conversations, he realized how much he didn’t matter to them. Eren was sad at first that he had to stop talking and joking as much, but as the days passed he wasn’t sad about that fact anymore, because he realized something far more important.

He didn’t matter to his classmates. While his days contained less smiles, his so called friends continued to be happy and laugh and cry occasionally, and Eren hated them for it. He hated that they could still smile and the girls could still blush without him having any part in it. He hated that no one of noticed or cared he wasn’t his usual self, or who he used to be. Only the teacher noticed he stopped being such a troublemaker, and she _praised_ him for it.

Eren was only five years old but his little mind could still realize something was terribly wrong with this picture, if the dramas his sister watched where anything to go by.

But although it had already been two weeks since he had developed a little obsession with the steeled eyed boy in his class, his life had dramatically changed, and there was only him to blame.

Eren could easily become the loud obnoxious boy again, but after he saw how his classmates reacted to his change of behavior, he decided he didn’t want to be the source of their happiness anymore, anyways. They didn’t deserve his jokes and they didn’t deserve him trying hard to please them, since they couldn’t care less about him.

So that is how five year old Eren realized that the world was a cruel place and his classmates where all little bitches (his sister's favorite word), whom didn’t deserve his time. So Eren made a resolution to never befriend any of them again and to never give his time to people whom couldn’t care less about him.

Only there was still one boy whom he still had faith on, a boy whom was the cause of all of this, but that didn’t matter because Eren couldn’t put the blame on the boy who opened his eyes about the reality of the world.

There was still a boy Eren could trust to be friends with, there was still steeled eyed, black haired and quiet Levi.

 

✿ ✿ ✿ ✿ ✿ ✿

 

Levi has wanted to punch a lot of people but never as much as he wanted to punch that green eyed kid. As he has already stated above, Levi is definitely not stupid, not at all. So he doesn’t fail to notice how bright green eyes become dull green eyes. The kid was digging himself into a hole, and once in a while when Levi still deems it fun to count how many times the teacher calls out his name, he realizes the other kid’s name has gone down to being called three and a half times a day, to zero times a day.

Levi is not worried, definitely not. But it still bugs him that the kid is changing right in front of his eyes and Levi can’t help but think he had something to do with this.

The boy still watches him, but no more with an excited expression on his face. It hasn’t even been a month and the snotty brat is not snotty anymore, since he doesn’t laugh with his mouth open anymore, actually, he doesn’t laugh at all now. He also doesn’t tell shitty jokes and he definitely doesn’t make the girls blush anymore.

Overall the boy has become a second Levi, and that fact hurts Levi more than It should.

Levi feels guilty, but at the same time he doesn’t want to. Levi should become a psychologist when he grows up because he knows exactly what green eyes had been trying to do this whole time. Levi hates himself for not giving the boy what he wanted, but also likes to argue that is not his fault the boy became so hung up on him.

He had nothing to do with it, maybe indirectly, but still, no one told the brat to change so Levi could notice him. The sad part is Levi noticed him, well Levi had been noticing him since the start, he just couldn’t let the boy know that. And now Levi hated himself a little bit for not even making eye contact with those green eyes so the boy could know he was being acknowledged.

But it’s too late now, and green eyes has become a sad withdrawn mess, and Levi doesn’t know what to do. For some strange reason he misses his smile, and his loud laugh, and his stupid jokes he could hear from across the room.

The point of the matter is that somehow Levi had fucked up and his little self has to do something to fix it.

The problem is he has no idea how.

How do you go about letting the boy you’ve been ignoring for the past month know that you actually were very aware of his existence? The boy would probably hate him, if he doesn’t already, for making him go through such hell. Levi is a five-year-old (not that he thinks that’s a disadvantage, I mean, he’s very mature for his age either way), but he knows well enough he has fucked up and green eyes will know that the moment he approaches him.

Wait a second, approach him? When in the world did Levi’s little mind decide that that was something he needed to do? There’s no ‘approaching the green eyed boy’ plan anywhere in Levi’s list of plans, in reality, he doesn’t even have a list of plans. He just knows he has to come up with a plan soon because it’s his fault not-loud-anymore boy has become a mess.

Levi wants to believe he wants to help the boy because it's partly his fault things turned out the way they did, but he knows better to know that he just doesn’t want there to be two Levi’s in his kindergarten classroom, Levi a one-of-a-kind kindergartner, no one his age is allowed to be sad, and moody, and quiet and withdrawn. No one is allowed to act like him and be like him, but the way he sees things, that boy is becoming pretty close to being like him, and that definitely can’t happen.

Levi likes that his name still gets called the most, and although the green eyed boy’s name was a close second, it now has become number zero on the list, but Levi fears his name will once again climb through the list and even make it number one if the situation keeps going as it has been for the past weeks. Levi doesn’t think he can take it if his name becomes second place to Eren’s.

 


	3. Boys Look Cute With Flowers In Their Hair Too

Kindergarten was far from being over, but it had started for some time now. When he had to first enter school, Eren’s mom comforted him by telling him he would only spend a couple of months in the place, so he shouldn’t cry so much because eventually he wouldn’t want to leave the place.

She had lied. Firstly, kindergarten lasted a lot longer than a couple of months, given that a couple of months could be two to four months, and about four months had already passed and Eren was still obligated to go to school.

Secondly, he didn’t want to do anything but leave the place. He didn’t like kindergarten at all. He hated the kids in it, he hated the teacher, he hated that he had to learn and he hated that he had to do homework. He also hated how early he had to wake up and how early he had to go to sleep.

The point of the matter was that his mom had lied and he hated that he was starting to realize the world was a mean and ugly place not only at school.

But school still had a certain someone he was still interested in.

Levi.

Eren had decided to call the boy by his name more often. He liked the way it sounded in his head while his attention in school was only on the boy. He also liked the way it sounded when he was supposed to go to sleep at night but it was the only time of the day he could freely say the boy’s name out loud without anyone hearing.

“Levi.” The name left such a sweet taste in his lips, such warmth at each syllable. The name was short, but either way it was so nice that Eren didn’t want to stop saying it.

Saying Levi’s name out loud in the darkness of his room made him wish he could say the name out loud in the bright hours of the day. He more or less wish he could say the name to said boy, and said boy would say his name back and it’d sound so much better than when anyone else said Eren’s name.  

He didn’t understand why his five year old brain wanted to experience such thing, but recently his sister had gotten a boyfriend and he had listened to their conversations on the phone more often than he’d want to.

All he knew was that he was very excited to see the boy again, since winter break was over and school was starting again.

The Monday he entered his kindergarten classroom again had him all nervous, he hadn’t seen Levi in like two weeks and he missed staring at the boy, since that was all he did. Not even after he had decided to speak to the boy did he do it. Eren didn’t have friends anymore, and he really wanted Levi to be his friend, the problem was that he didn’t know how to approach him. The last two weeks spent out of school gave him some sort of confidence he didn’t know he had, and he made a New Year’s Resolution (his mom had explained the list she had been making on New Year’s Eve, and he decided to make one too), his resolution was to become Levi’s friend, as simple as that.

But when he spotted the boy that Monday, his nervousness increased because it wasn’t just as simple as that. He had to speak to Levi first, and he didn’t know how to do it. His little brain didn’t come up with any ideas and it felt like it was going to burst.

So he watched Levi for the first half of the day, mildly paying attention Ms. Perry whom was having a discussion about vacation and what everyone had done during their time off.

When the time for recess came around, the teacher announced to everyone that they could go outside for the day since it was strangely warm for it to be winter, so they should take advantage of the weather before they wouldn’t be allowed to go out again.

After having eaten, all the kids ran out the classroom excitedly, with their winter gear already on. Eren did everything in slow motion, wanting to be the last one out so he could watch what Levi was going to do and where he was going to go.

Levi walked out into the playground, the cold air visibly making him shudder and the sight made Eren giggle, but he tried to do it softly so the other boy wouldn’t notice him.

Eren closely and quietly followed the boy until Levi stopped and sat down in one of the benches farthest from the classroom, near the woods behind the school. Eren didn’t know what to do when the boy turned around and sat down facing him, immediately noticing Eren and staring right at him.

Eren missed those steel eyes on him, and for some reason they looked like they were sparking with the mid-noon sun hitting right at them. Levi continued to watch him with an even expression on his face, and Eren had no idea what to do. So he just stood there like a statue, kind of paralyzed by the way those eyes were piercing him.

The boy just sat there without breaking eye contact, and Eren was waiting for him to break the silence or his gaze but Levi did neither.

So Eren did what he had been practicing the moment Levi caught his attention.

“Hi,” his voice was small, barely audible with the winter wind that strongly surrounded them and made the fallen leaves raise between them.

“Hi,” he said again when Levi didn’t reply, this time louder and with more confidence. Eren didn’t know why but he smiled as he made small steps towards those cold eyes. “My name’s Eren.” He extended his hand out like he saw adults doing when they greeted each other.

His hand remained in the air as Levi broke eye contact to look at it, then back at Eren’s face, still mute.

“I’m Eren, and you’re Levi. It’s nice to finally properly meet you.” He waved his hand a bit so Levi could take the hint he was supposed to shake it.

“I want to be your friend, Levi.” He smiled brightly upon saying those words, glad he was able to finally say them after all these months. “Umm… You’re supposed to shake my hand if you didn’t know. That’s how adults usually meet and become friends, but that’s okay if you didn’t know that. I’m glad I could teach you something.” Eren went to grab Levi’s hand that was inside his coat pockets and placed it against his own outstretched one.

The feeling of Levi’s small and cold hand against his own almost made him miss the chuckle that escape the older boy’s lips. When Eren looked up at Levi the boy’s eyes were crinkled and he was no longer chuckling but full on out laughing, holding his chest with his free hand and lightly hitting it to stop himself from choking, Eren only assumed that was why Levi was doing that. 

When Levi finally stopped laughing, and opened his watery eyes to look at Eren, Eren was sure he blushed. He had never seen Levi laugh, or even smile but the sight in front of him was so perfect he wanted to continue to see it for the rest of his life.

“You’re so silly, Eren.” finally the boy spoke. His voice was softer than Eren expected, but it was so smooth, and the way he said his name was exactly how Eren imagined he would say it, and he loved the sound of it.

Eren jut watched the boy smile, not able to speak at all. Levi continued to watch him until the silence was going on for too long, so Eren wasn’t prepared at all when the boy pulled him by their still connected hands and made him sit beside him.

“Nice to meet you, Eren. I’m Levi, but it looks like you already knew that.” Eren couldn’t believe what he was hearing, he couldn’t believe their hands were still connected, he couldn’t believe he was sitting beside Levi and said boy was still smiling.

Eren vaguely wondered if he was dreaming, but the heat radiating in his palm in the cold weather was a sign that he was in fact awake, and still holding hands with the boy he could only watch from afar minutes ago.

“I’d like to be your friend as well, I guess.” Levi said a bit nonchalantly, but Eren couldn’t care less. He just rapidly nodded and smiled back at Levi whom was watching him with amusement.

“It’s settled then, you’re my new best friend!” Eren loudly exclaimed, scaring Levi a bit in the process, whom withdrew his hands from Eren’s grasp instantly.

“Well,” Levi chuckled. “I wouldn’t say best friends, since we’ve only just exchanged names, but maybe one day we can be best friends.”  

Eren didn’t care that Levi didn’t consider them best friends yet, just being friends, or just even talking to Levi was enough. But the fact that they could become best friends in the future made Eren even happier. 

“Okay,” Eren jumped up from the bench in excitement.

Levi looked up at little Eren's form his sitting position and smiled “So, what is the first thing you want to do now that we are friends?”

“How about we pick flowers?” Eren hoped Levi liked his idea, since he liked picking flowers when he was by himself.

Levi nodded and smiled as he followed a happy Eren to the patch of flowers that were still left in the school’s playground.

Truth is that Levi looked cute with flowers in his hair, something Eren did even after Levi told him not too because flowers in hair were for girls, but after Eren told him he looked cute, Levi didn’t mind the flowers that stayed in his hair all day, even after some kids made fun of him for it.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> A beautiful person drew fanart for this chapter :3 http://teaorcatsorfitorsass.tumblr.com/image/136808751439   
> Thank you~~


	4. Cause He's Pretty and Nice

So that was how Levi had do to absolutely nothing to become the boy’s friend. Well, he still hated himself a little because he didn’t have to guts to do what Eren had done that day at school.

Levi was no longer a five year old, he was finally a six year old, but he was stupid. He admits it, he was very stupid and should’ve done what Eren did a long time ago, but he’d like to blame his five year old self for not doing anything. Now that Levi was no longer five, and he was already friends with Eren, he didn’t need to worry about the past. But it seems like he did need to worry about the present and the future.

Becoming friends with Eren was as easy as he thought it was, it was actually pretty easy becoming his friend, it was what happened when they became friends that wasn’t easy.

It seems like even five year olds, and some six year olds, heave some evil within themselves because as soon as Eren and Levi became friends those evil kindergarteners decided to make their evilness known to the two.

Levi knew bullying was a thing, and he was actually surprised he hadn’t gotten bullied yet like he expected, but well, he shouldn’t have felt so relieved so easily because let's just say the bullying finally started like it did in the movies.

The rest of kindergarten wasn’t so bad, since the kids were still snotty brats, so the teasing was mainly stupid and Levi ignored it, while Eren didn’t really, Levi noticed, but if Levi insisted then Eren pretended he didn’t care.

Truth is Levi had learned a lot about Eren in the span of the five months left of kindergarten. Levi learned to read the kid like it was his own self. He could easily tell Eren’s emotions, and what was going through his head and how he felt about things around them. Levi didn’t know what to make about this situation, so most of the time he let Eren have some privacy to feel things without Levi knowing, or pretending, not to know about them.

But Levi couldn’t ignore the fact that Eren hated when his ex-friends gave him the wrong kind of attention. For some reason those kids never bothered Levi when he was alone, but they did start bothering Eren for being Levi’s friend. What kind of logic is that? Levi will never know, but one thing he did know was that five year olds were stupid so he ignored them and begged or kind of tricked Eren into ignoring them as well.

Levi smiled as much as he could, and mind him it wasn’t a fake smile, he genuinely smiled around Eren, and he liked that he could smile at Eren and with Eren, and to be honest Levi’s life was becoming a whole lot of Eren. But that idea didn’t scare him as much, because Eren’s life mostly consisted of Levi too, and just that made Levi happy.

Those five months of kindergarten that Eren stood by Levi’s side felt way better than all the other months Levi had been alive without anyone by his side, so he didn’t fight it when he felt himself getting attached to the now six ear old green eyed boy, whose eyes had started sparkling again ever since Levi told him they could be friends and decided the first thing they had to do as friends was pick flowers.

For some reason picking flowers became a weird habit of the two, a reminder of the beginning of their relationship, and a reminder of the beginning of their bullying.

The boys didn’t directly insult Levi, but they did insult Eren. Levi couldn’t care less the flowers in his hair were “girly” because they made Eren happy, but he extremely cared when Eren told him to take them off with a frown. Levi refused to take them off and told Eren to never let anyone make you hate something you once loved.

Eren was all smiles again and the next day the weather was still warm so they once again went outside and right away Levi walked towards the little garden, picked a couple of flowers and adorned Eren’s hair with them.

Eren was blushing and Levi found him so cute with the flowers on his hair that matched the color of his face. The thought made Levi blush himself for reasons he couldn’t imagine.

After that day Eren moved his seat to Levi’s side, and all he did was by Levi’s side.

Levi learned that Eren’s laugh wasn’t snotty and saliva no longer ran down his check when he laughed at whatever Levi said that the green eyed boy found so funny. Levi also learned that Eren wasn’t as funny as he thought he was, and most of the kids used to laugh at his jokes because they probably couldn’t understand what was so funny about them so they just laugh because that’s what they were supposed to do.

However, although Levi admitted the jokes weren’t funny, they still made him laugh because just looking at Eren all concentrated trying to tell his funny story, laughing and barely being able to tell the story correctly made Levi so happy that he would just laugh looking at the boy in admiration.

There was a point in time when Levi promised himself he would never get attached to anyone, but when Eren came around he couldn’t help but think that getting attached to Eren wouldn’t be that bad, since the boy was already attached to him to begin with, and that meant he wouldn’t hurt Levi, or suddenly decided to leave him, because they both heavily depended on each other, and nothing could change that.

 

✿ ✿ ✿ ✿ ✿ ✿

 

Eren had never been as happy as he was by Levi’s side.

Yes there were bumpy times in their relationship, but Levi had nothing to do with it. It was actually other people’s fault for invading their secluded space and saying things they shouldn’t be saying.

But every time such things happened, Levi was there to comfort Eren and tell him not to mind such stupid crappy people and of course Eren listened to whatever Levi said.

Levi was like a savior to Eren, everything about Levi was everything about Eren. The younger boy adored the older and well if Levi said he shouldn’t worry about those stupid kindergarteners, well, then Eren wasn’t going to worry about them.

That was until he wasn’t a kindergartener anymore, and a whole summer without Levi had passed, and the younger hated himself for never finding out how to keep on contact with Levi when they weren’t in school. But it was too late to beat himself over it, since school was over for summer break and there was no way he was gonna get in contact with Levi.

But for some reason he was still in contact with some stupid assholes from his class who unluckily happened to live near him.

There was a park by his house, and apparently six year olds liked to hang out by it since one hot summer day when Eren went along with his sister to buy ice cream he saw them playing tag like the little kids they were (Eren hadn’t realized he had become so bitter). He tried not to scowl at the sight but well, he couldn’t help it.

His sister realized his expression right away, though.

“Eren, what’s wrong?”

Eren looked up at his sister’s face upon hearing her words. He wanted to lie but he also wanted to talk to someone about what he was feeling since he hadn’t seen Levi in a couple of days.   

“I just don’t like those kids over there.” Eren raised he little hand and pointed at the group of boys who were running around playing freeze tag, Eren deducted.

Eren’s sister’s face expression became more concerned by the second, “Why is that Eren, why don’t you like them?” Mikasa had gotten down to eye level at this point, gaining all interest in the conversation.

“They just…” Eren mumbled, “They say bad things about my best friend.” Eren didn’t want to cry thinking about all the bad things they had said about Levi and about him as well, since Levi told him not to think about it. But Eren figured Levi wasn’t around anymore, so he could cry if he wanted to.

“Oh, they do?” Mikasa had a faraway look on her face. “And who is this best friend of yours? I haven’t heard you talk about your friends in a long time.”

“His name is Levi!” Eren’s sad teary face was replaced with one of pure happiness, and Mikasa didn’t miss a bit of it.

“Levi, I see. And what do they say about him?”

Eren once again became sad thinking about the mean things he heard those boys say. He didn’t want to tell his sister the horrible things he had to hear, but he had brought it up so might as well finish what he started.

“They say he’s weird, and girly, and emo. They say I shouldn’t be his f-friend because he doesn’t d-deserve fr-friends,” Eren was crying by this point. “T-they call him m-mean things and-and I don’t l-like it.”

“Shush,” was all his sister said as she took him into a hug. “Don’t listen to what those boys say. I’m pretty sure Levi is a very nice friend and a very nice boy, and if you know what they are saying is a lie then don’t listen to them, okay?” Mikasa soothingly ran a hand through Eren’s brown locks, and it made Eren feel better, but it also made him miss Levi.

Levi had developed a habit of ruffling Eren’s hair and Eren loved it to no end.

Mikasa’s words made Eren want to keep speaking, “I-I know they are l-lying. Be-because Levi is pr-pretty, and he’s nice and-and he d-deserves me.”

Mikasa’s hand momentarily tensed, but Eren was too deep into his own little world to notice. When the boy had stopped crying, Mikasa got up from her previous position and wiped Eren’s tears with the front of her shirt.

“I’m pretty sure he’s all of those things, so don’t cry about it anymore, okay?”

Eren nodded and smiled up at her. They continued walking towards the store again and Eren didn’t even glance the boys’ direction as he tightly grabbed his sister's hand.

Once they were farther from the park, Mikasa started talking again.

“So how did you meet Levi?” Eren was glad she was showing interest in his best friend.

“At school, he was in the same class as me! And he was very quiet and didn’t have any friends, so I wanted to be his friend!”

“Hmm…” Mikasa once again smiled down at the boy, “I’m glad you became his friend then.”

Eren’s smile couldn’t have been any wider at her words. “Me too!” He didn’t stop smiling all the way to the store, and all the way back with ice cream in hand.

Only when he was in bed ready to sleep did he once again think about how much he missed Levi.


	5. Burning Red Cheeks

Levi hated vacation. He had only had vacation a couple of times during the past school year, but those didn’t last more than two weeks. Having a three month vacation was giving him anxiety and to top it off he hated that he wouldn’t be able to see Eren.

Yes, he wanted to see Eren and he wasn’t afraid to admit it. I mean by this point it should be obvious that Levi cared about Eren a lot and depended on him too greatly. Too, too greatly. But as already mentioned, that fact didn’t scare Levi one bit. He loved Eren’s company and he loved he finally had a best friend. Yes, they had become best friends before the school year had ended, which is why he felt extremely stupid for not finding a way to contact his best friend during their summer vacation.

So Levi was stuck at home doing absolutely nothing, I mean watching tv all day counted as nothing anyways.

He made sure to get up after his father had left for work, and also made sure he was in his room by the time his father came back around 7p.m. It was like he was still at school, since his father was at work the whole day and no longer had to watch the boy like he did when Levi was a bit younger. For some reason his father thought a six year old could take care of himself alone all day, and well his dad was right because Levi was no typical six year old.

Still those few hours that were left when his father got home and it was too early for Levi to go to bed were a bit like torture, not that Levi wasn’t used to them. But lately having to deal with his father had become harder, since he hadn’t seen Eren in a while and the boy was like a good luck charm or something of the sorts because it made Levi’s life more bearable at home.

So just like any other time Levi had to deal with his father until it was nine o’clock and it was Levi’s bedtime so he hurriedly went to his room to repeat the same cycle the again the next day.

Just like that weeks passed and Levi’s life was a constant cycle of the same thing every day, and as everyday passed, he missed Eren. The realization hit him like a ton of bricks, he fucking missed Eren. He missed Eren like he had never missed anyone else before.

Let’s just say he didn’t even miss his mother as much as he missed Eren. Well that’s not saying much since he had never met his mother in the first place. But still, even if he hadn’t met her, it’d be normal for him to miss at least having a mother figure. But no, he just missed Eren, a lot, and maybe it’d make him happy that missing Eren meant he cared about the boy, but missing Eren also meant that there were going to be times when Eren wasn’t going to be by his side, and he hated that.

He really wishes he had at least known where Eren lived so he could go see him somehow, maybe convince his dad to finally do something for him. 

So just like that the days went by and soon a whole month had passed and Levi still missed Eren, but just like any other child his thoughts slowly become less and less centered on the boy.

Levi did normal things six year olds did, he played around (but not those typical stupid games), he watched TV, ate a lot when his father wasn’t home, and also developed a habit of sleeping a lot, mostly to avoid his father but also because most of the time he had nothing better to do.

Then a whole two months had passed, and to be honest if you asked Levi about a boy named Eren, he’d stop for a second to think about it, because that name sounded familiar, but he couldn’t tell you why or who that was really.

Then school was almost starting again and if you mentioned Eren’s name Levi completely didn’t know who you were talking about. Can’t really blame him, he was a six year old after all with a small brain and a short attention span.

But even if Eren was pushed to the back of his memory, Levi felt like there was something missing from his life. He of course couldn’t tell what but he felt a bit… empty. He didn’t know if being excited about going back to school and starting first grade had something to do with it.

The day had finally come, and Levi got ready, wearing his best clothes, because although he still didn’t care about what others thought about him, he had a feeling the day was going to be an important one, so better to look his best. Plus it made him feel better to dress up nice, not that wearing black pants with a black shirt made him look any nicer than he normally did, but it as his favorite outfit so whatever.

Levi didn’t know why but upon getting to school he felt something weird in his chest. Seeing the familiar building made something in his mind click, like for the past weeks the something that was missing had something to do with school, but since the answers weren’t coming fast enough, he shook his head and continued on his way to his classroom, pushing those weird thoughts away.

But maybe he should’ve tried harder to remember exactly what it was that had been bugging him all this time. He definitely should’ve tried harder because it just made him feel worse when he saw him, all smiles, with a blue shirt that brought out the color of his green eyes, and a cute crooked smile without any missing teeth.

“Levi,” the boy was already smiling but upon saying Levi’s name the smile grew so wide Levi feared Eren’s lips would crack.

“Eren,” the shorter boy replied, because yes, Eren had freaking grew over the summer, damn.

Levi didn’t have enough time to register what happened next, but it wasn’t unwelcomed either when Eren wrapped his longer arms around Levi.

“I missed you so much.” It was mumbled coming from Eren’s mouth but Levi understood it completely. And the words made him feel guilty because although he also missed Eren at the beginning, he had completely forgotten about the boy once the days had passed. But that feeling quickly passed when he felt the other boy’s warmth, and he was so, so glad because he remembered Eren and he no longer felt weird and empty. He was happy because Eren still remembered him, and they were in the same class again and would get to spend first grade together. Nothing sounded as good as that.

But maybe Levi shouldn’t have been so careless while hugging the taller boy, because although kindergarteners were evil, they didn’t get to show their evilness as much. But first graders? Oh man, Levi swore first graders were pure evil incarnated. 

 

✿ ✿ ✿ ✿ ✿ ✿

 

He doesn’t know what made him do it but suddenly Eren’s arms were around Levi’s and it was too late to think about not doing it because, well, he was already doing it.  
Eren hadn’t hugged that many people in his life. Only his parents, his sister, and his grandma whom he rarely visited. Overall, Eren had never hugged another boy, and maybe he should've been hugging more people than that because it felt great. He didn’t know if it would feel good hugging all people, maybe it only felt that way because it was Levi. Either way, it was great but it still made him nervous that he shouldn’t have hugged the boy in the first place.

Eren wasn’t nervous for a long time since Levi hugged him back and if he thought it felt good before, it was ten times better with Levi’s hands around him.

When they broke away Eren didn’t fail to notice the big wide smile on Levi’s face, but he also didn’t fail to notice the kids giving them weird looks. Although he noticed the looks, he didn’t give them much thought, since after his sister’s advice Eren had decided to stop caring about what other’s said, just like Levi.

But just because he didn’t pay attention to it, it didn’t mean the looks stopped. Instead, throughout his first grade year the looks increased, and they suddenly turned into words, mean words that hurt Eren whenever he heard them. And when the words weren’t enough, then came the touches. The little “accidental” bumps, the shoves, the throwing his stuff on the ground, even stealing his lunch.

Levi knew all of this was happening to Eren, and it made him mad to no end. Eren knew Levi wasn’t the aggressive type, well at least not the one to start fights first, but damn did he finish them, and well at that.

Overall Levi’s and Eren’s first grade consisted of lots of fights and making a lot of enemies.

Eren would’ve really cared if he didn’t have Levi by his side, but everywhere he went there was Levi, watching over him because although Eren was taller, Levi was stronger and could make any boy from their class bleed, although Eren hated it when Levi got into trouble and it was mostly his fault.

What Eren didn’t understand was why they were being picked on. He told Mikasa about it when she asked why he had a bruise on his small face. Eren liked telling Mikasa things so he told her about the kids that hurt him and Levi. She told him that was called bullying, and no one should be bullied for no matter the reason.

Days later after that Eren’s parents showed up at school, and Eren didn’t understand why Levi was mad at him for no reason.

When suddenly the boy who bothered him the most was taken out of class Eren realized Levi hadn’t liked that Eren had complained to someone about what happened to them. Levi told him it was because it made them look weak, and that would only mean they would be bullied more now.

Levi was right, Eren should’ve known better.

Even though Dani was taken out of their class, his friends made sure to get their revenge.

Eren knew Levi was trying his best to defend his best friend, but he still hated that he couldn’t fight for himself and be the one protecting Levi instead. Which is why the next time a boy decided to shove him and call him a girl, Eren shoved the boy right back and also kind of punched him, which as expected didn’t do much damage and only aggravated the little bully more. That was the first time Eren got completely beat up.

If Eren believed Levi spent most of his time by Eren’s side, then after that occurrence Levi spent all his time by Eren’s side.

Although there were those bad times during their first grade school year, there were also the good times.

Like the fact that every day Eren learned more and more about his best friend, things like his shitty humor and ability to keep a poker face for the longest of times. Eren also learned that although Levi didn’t pay attention in class, or at least looked like he didn’t pay attention, the boy was extremely smart, and that made Eren very glad because he loved having a smart best friend.

There were also the hugs, which still felt great and Eren secretly loved. And they still picked flowers from the school little garden when the weather was still nice and the snow hadn’t completely damaged the beautiful beings.

Eren had learnt from his mistake and exchanged contact info with Levi. Although neither of the boys had cellphones, they were only six (well Levi was already seven but Eren was six) they still had house phones they could call each other at. Eren had tried very hard to learn his address so he could tell it to Levi but he was surprised, well not really, when Levi easily told Eren his because he had already known it for a long time.

There wasn’t anything or anyone else Eren admired as much as Levi, and that was obvious.

When the school year was coming to an end, the boys decided to spend the last day together, it was like a way to preserve the memory of each other in the following months they wouldn’t be able to see each other if things didn’t go the way they planned.

Eren had spoken to Mikasa about wanting to spend time with Levi and since she loved her little brother she decided to pick them both up from school and drive them to Eren’s favorite ice cream place. Of course, before that happened Mikasa had a lot of convincing to do to Levi’s father, but he reluctantly decided to let Levi go.

At the ice cream place, after having payed for their ice cream, and a lot of subtle begging from Eren’s part, Mikasa went back to sit in the car, carefully keeping her eyes on the boys so nothing happened to them while they sat by themselves.

Eren was so happy he couldn’t contain his excitement, which is to say he could barely hold onto his ice cream without it almost falling out of his grasp.

He had ordered a normal vanilla with rainbow sprinkles cone, but regretted his decision when he saw Levi eating his mint cookie’s and cream ice cream in a cup. Even the flavor of the ice cream Levi liked made Eren admire the boy even more.

It seemed like Levi noticed the boy eyeing his ice cream, because the next thing Eren knew was that Levi was extending a spoonful of his mint ice cream towards Eren, willing the boy to take a taste.

Eren was a bit surprised at the action, but he still ate the bite while trying not to look at Levi, because he was pretty sure his cheeks were pink. Eren wasn’t surprised to find how delicious the ice cream tasted, just like he imagined. Although the taste of the ice cream was distracting, he didn’t fail to notice the big smile on Levi’s face after going back to eat his ice cream.

“You know…” Levi mumbled with some ice cream still in his mouth, a grin still adorning his lips. “We just indirectly kissed.”

If Eren thought his cheeks were pink before, he was pretty sure they had turned a bright, burning red.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> the boys are growing up omg I can't believe they're gonna be going to middle school soon, in a couple of chapters to come :')


End file.
